L  I  B  R.ARY 

OF   THE 
UN  IVERSITY 

or  ILLINOIS 


NATURAL  HISTORY   SURVE 

530.5 


v.10 
cop.3 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

PUBLICATION  138. 
ZOOLOGICAL  SERIES.  VOL.  X,  No.  i. 


A  PECULIAR  BEAR  FROM 
ALASKA 


BY 


WILFRED  H.  OSGOOD 
Assistant  Curator  of  Mammalogy  and  Ornithology. 


CHARLES  B.  CORY, 
Curator,  Department  of  Zoology. 


CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 

November,   1909. 


0. 

in 


FIELD  MUSEUM  or  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

PUBLICATION   138. 
ZOOLOGICAL  SERIES.  VOL.  X,  No.  i 


A  PECULIAR  BEAR  FROM 
ALASKA 


BY 

WILFRED   H.  OSGOOD 
Assistant  Curator  of  Mammalogy  and  Ornithology. 


CHARLES  B.  CORY, 
Curator,  Department  of  Zoology. 


CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 
November,   1909. 


A   PECULIAR   BEAR   FROM  ALASKA. 


BY   WILFRED  H.  OSGOOD. 


In  view  of  the  scanty  knowledge  of  the  small  Alaska  bear  known 
as  the  glacier  bear,  it  seems  important  to  publish  a  figure  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  peculiar  specimen  (No.  13768)  now  on  exhibition  in  Field 
Museum.  This  skin  (there  is  no  skull)  was  purchased  from  the  fur 
dealers  C.  F.  Periolat  and  Son  by  Mr.  V.  Shaw  Kennedy  and  by  him 
presented  to  the  Museum.  Later  it  was  mounted  by  Julius  Friesser, 
one  of  the  Museum's  taxidermists,  and  placed  on  exhibition.  The 
skin  is  practically  complete  although  some  slight  restoration  of  parts 
was  necessary  about  the  nose  and  one  of  the  feet.  It  was  received 
by  the  fur  dealers  with  a  consignment  from  Alaska,  and  according  to 
report  was  obtained  in  the  region  of  Mount  St.  Elias. 

Its  principal  peculiarity  is  in  the  fact  that  it  is  very  much  darker 
than  the  majority  of  specimens  heretofore  regarded  as  representing 
typical  Ursus  emmonsi.  Gray  hairs  are  scattered  throughout  the 
pelage  of  the  entire  animal,  but  the  predominating  effect  is  black. 
The  black  is  intense  and  nearly  unmixed  with  gray  on  the  lower  cheeks 
and  throat  and  thence  down  the  middle  of  the  breast.  The  nape  and 
sides  of  the  neck  also  are  nearly  pure  glossy  black.  The  outer  sides 
of  the  forelegs  and  the  front  of  the  hind  legs  and  the  feet  are  chiefly 
black.  On  the  feet,  forelegs,  and  breast  the  hairs  are  mostly  black 
to  the  roots  but  elsewhere  in  the  areas  which  appear  black  on  the 
surface,  the  hairs  are  grayish  at  the  base.  The  parts  of  rather  more 
gray  than  black  are  the  lower  shoulders,  the  sides,  and  the  hips,  but 
practically  all  the  hairs  are  broadly  tipped  with  black,  the  total 
amount  being  much  greater  than  in  ordinary  Ursus  emmonsi.  A 
black  line  from  the  nape  to  the  tail  is  fairly  distinct  and  the  tail  itself 
is  mostly  pure  black.  The  top  of  the  rostrum  is  rich  ferruginous 
slightly  mixed  with  creamy,  while  sparsely  scattered  ferruginous  or 
creamy  hairs  extend  backward  to  the  occipital  region  and  nearly 
to  the  base  of  the  ears,  becoming  fewer  and  largely  replaced  by  white 
hairs  posteriorly.  The  extreme  tip  of  the  nose  and  parts  of  the  lips 
were  missing  when  the  skin  was  received  and  are  shown  restored  in 
the  mounted  specimen. 


2      FIELD  MUSUEM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  —  ZOOLOGY,  VOL.  X. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  this  peculiar  Lear  is  practically  in- 
termediate in  color  between  the  glacier  bear  (emmonsi)  and  the  pure 
black  bear  (americanus) .  By  some,  no  doubt,  it  would  be  regarded 
as  a  hybrid  and  this  it  may  very  well  be,  but  with  the  present  limited 
knowledge  of  Ursus  emmonsi  as  a  species,  any  conclusion  in  regard 
to  it  is  somewhat  hypothetical.  In  casting  about  for  an  explanation 
of  the  peculiarity  of  this  specimen,  other  than  that  of  hybridity,  one 
finds  some  probability  in  the  idea  that  Ursus  emmonsi  may  not  be  a 
species  nor  even  a  subspecies  but  only  a  color  phase  of  Ursus  ameri- 
canus. It  should  be  emphasized  perhaps  that  such  an  idea  is  distinctly 
hypothetical  and  of  value  only  as  a  possible  alternative  to  be  kept  in 
mind  in  judging  such  facts  as  may  be  disclosed  from  time  to  time  in 
the  future. 

Many  circumstances  in  addition  to  our  specimen  lend  probability 
to  the  view  that  the  glacier  bear  may  be  a  color  phase.  Since  its 
discovery  some  fifteen  years  ago,  scattering  skins  more  or  less  similar 
to  those  seen  by  the  original  describer  have  found  their  way  to  various 
American  museums  and  private  collectors.  The  total  number  is  very 
small,  perhaps  not  exceeding  fifteen,*  in  spite  of  the  recent  activity 
of  travelers  and  collectors  on  the  coast  of  Alaska.  Of  this  small 
number,  the  majority  are  imperfect  and  nearly  all  are  unaccompanied 
by  skulls  or  with  imperfect  ones  only.  The  number  of  authentic 
observations  regarding  the  habits  and  distribution  of  this  interesting 
bear  is  still  smaller  and  our  entire  knowledge  of  it,  therefore,  is  ex- 
ceedingly incomplete.  All  the  specimens  thus  far  received  are  from 
a  small  part  of  the  coast  of  Alaska,  extending  approximately  from 
Lynn  Canal  to  Cape  St.  Elias.  The  fact  that  this  is  a  region  of  great 
glaciers  caused  the  animal  to  be  called  the  glacier  bear  and  from  this 
the  idea  soon  prevailed  that  it  lived  exclusively  in  and  about  the 
glaciers  and  had  otherwise  remarkable  habits.  The  same  region  is 
inhabited  also  by  black  and  brown  bears,  both  of  which,  especially 
the  former,  are  frequently  found  on  or  near  the  glaciers.  In  fact, 
from  such  evidence  as  can  be  obtained  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
region,  both  white  and  Indian,  there  is  not  the  slightest  foundation 
for  the  belief  that  the  habits  of  the  so-called  glacier  bear  differ  in  any 
way  from  those  of  the  ordinary  black  bear  of  the  coast  of  Alaska. 

So  far  as  can  be  judged  by  material  now  available,  there  is  no 
proof  that  the  glacier  bear  differs  from  the  black  in  cranial  characters, 
such  fragmentary  skulls  as  have  been  received  being  identical  in  every 

*  My  own  observation  includes  only  eight,  all  in  public  museums,  but 
several  are  known  to  be  in  private  hands  and  doubtless  a  few  others  have  been 
preserved. 


Nov.,  1909.       A  PECULIAR  BEAR  FROM  ALASKA — OSGOOD.  3 

respect  with  those  of  black  bears  from  the  same  region.  That  it  has 
been  thought  to  be  smaller  than  the  black  bear  is  explainable  by  the 
probability  that  a  majority  of  the  skins  thus  far  received  are  those  of 
females  or  young.  Therefore,  the  only  peculiarity  of  Ursus  emmonsi 
is  its  gray  color,  which  it  now  appears  is  subject  to  marked  variation. 
As  a  specific  character,  this  peculiarity  might  sooner  have  been 
questioned  if  the  animal  were  not  a  large  game  animal  of  much  popu- 
lar interest  and  one  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  large  series  of 
specimens  from  single  localities.  Probably  five  hundred  black  bears 
are  killed  on  the  coast  of  Alaska  to  one  of  the  gray  color  representing 
Ursus  emmonsi. 

If  occasional  specimens  showing  divergence  in  color  are  found 
among  large  series  of  a  given  species  of  small  mammal,  it  is  not  un- 
usual to  regard  them  merely  as  examples  of  dichromatism.  Especi- 
ally is  this  the  case  if  the  species  be  one  in  which  dichromatism  is  al- 
ready known  to  occur.  It  is  very  significant  in  this  connection  that 
the  cinnamon  phase  so  well  known  in  other  parts  of  the  black  bear's 
range  is  unknown  on  the  coast  of  Alaska.  That  a  gray  phase  may 
represent  it  there  certainly  is  not  impossible.  Another  interesting 
factor  in  the  case  is  the  white  bear  of  the  coast  of  British  Columbia, 
called  Ursus  kermodei,  which  some  regard  as  an  albinotic  phase  of 
Ursus  americanus.  Evidently  there  is  an  unusual  instability  in  the 
color  of  the  small  bears  of  the  American  northwest  coast.  Doubtless 
extremely  interesting  results  would  be  obtained  if  some  of  our  zoologi- 
cal parks  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  obtain  living  examples  of  these 
bears  and  to  successfully  breed  them  in  captivity. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


